In the dark of the pod, Bondar stewed, helped in no small measure by the rising temperature.

Hadn’t the trial gone better? They showed me the vids. There were crowds of supporters, rallying to my cause. Weren’t there?

The accelerator thrummed to life. A small indicator light crept from red to amber to yellow and on to three shades of green. Bondar barely registered the greens as the thrust contorted his body and mind.

Ohhhh god, this isn’t right. None of it’s right. They said it was going well, Krimner and Jakes. They said I’d be a hero, a Che for the Fusion Age. They said…they said…

A wave of nausea interrupted his thoughts as the acceleration ceased. For a moment he felt peaceful, at one with the universe, as his innards floated weightless within his restrained body. The hyperspace jump was coming and with it the oblivion of unconsciousness.

They said it was going better. They wouldn’t have lied. Would they? But all those people in the vids, all my fans. Could it all be a lie?